Animal abuse charges will also be dropped under deal

November 09, 2012|By Lisa Black, Chicago Tribune reporter

A bizarre case involving a Milwaukee reptile expert who was accused of sexually assaulting a suburban Chicago woman and mistreating animals could be settled with a plea deal Monday, more than two years after charges were filed.

Terry Cullen, 63, is prepared to plead no contest to a misdemeanor sexual assault under a deferred prosecution agreement offered by the Milwaukee County district attorney's office, said Cullen's attorney, Lewis Wasserman.

Authorities charged Cullen in May 2010 with felony sexual assault and false imprisonment, as well as more than a dozen complaints alleging mistreatment and improper housing of hundreds of snakes, crocodiles, rats and other animals at two locations.

By pleading no contest to fourth-degree sexual assault, a misdemeanor defined as any sexual touching without consent, Cullen would face no jail time, Wasserman said.

The Chicago-area woman, then 24, told police that she first met Cullen at a reptile fair at the Tinley Park Convention Center, where she inquired about an internship with his organization, the "Cullen Vivarium Wildlife Conservancy."

After an initial interview at a Milwaukee restaurant, the victim's mother dropped her off at the same restaurant, where she was to meet Cullen and start her job, according to the complaint filed in court.

Cullen drove the victim to two homes where he kept animals. At the second house, he told her to call her mother and tell her that he would take her home in the morning and refused to tell her the address of their location, records state.

After telling her that he had studied gynecology, Cullen allegedly assaulted the victim and forced her to shower the next morning, the record states. She did not report the incident to police until more than a month later because, according to court records, she was afraid of the defendant, ashamed and worried that there would be no evidence to prove her story.

When police searched Cullen's apartment, they found more than 200 animals, many exotic and on federal and state endangered lists, in squalid conditions, according to the complaint. Authorities, "overcome by the odor," found free-roaming crocodiles eating cardboard and rat and turtle carcasses that were decomposing, it states.

The Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission and nearby zoos took over care of the surviving animals.

Under the plea deal, Cullen would make a $2,500 contribution to an animal welfare charity, and the animal abuse charges would be dropped, Wasserman said.

Cullen must undergo a sex offender evaluation and participate in any follow-up treatment deemed necessary under the deferred prosecution agreement, said Assistant District Attorney Sara Lewis.

Prosecutors did not believe they had enough evidence to take the case to trial, but "those issues don't undermine our belief that something happened here and the defendant is culpable," she said.

If Cullen complies with set conditions for five months, the misdemeanor sexual assault charge would be dropped and show up on his record only as a municipal battery or disorderly conduct ticket, Lewis said.